Amidst recent regional tensions, China is set to join the United States for major naval drills.

Later this month, Beijing will send missile destroyers, a guided missile frigate and a hospital ship to be part of the "Pacific Rim" exercises.

In addition, the People's Liberation Army will dispatch helicopters, a special warfare unit and a diving squad. Singapore and Brunei will also participate.

The United States so-called "pivot to Asia" and China's claims to the East and South China Seas have led these major powers to question each other's motives.

The live fire drills are aimed at bridge building.

Territorial conflict continues

Tensions are high over the resource-rich waters in the region, with China in disputes with Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei.

A recent flare-up in the South China Sea saw Vietnam and China trade accusations over the sinking of a Vietnamese fishing boat not far from where China has controversially parked an oil rig in the disputed area.

In a speech during the meeting of the Shangri-La Dialogue in May, US defence secretary Chuck Hagel accused China of de-stabilising the region.

"The United States will not look the other way when fundamental principles of the international order are being challenged," Mr Hagel said.

"China has called the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation and that's what it should be. But in recent months, China has undertaken destabilising, unilateral actions asserting its claims on the South China Sea."

But China said the US was stirring up trouble.

"Hagel's speech is filled with threatening and intimidating language," said deputy chief of staff of the Chinese Army, Wang Guanzhong, on the sidelines of the conference.

[Mr Hagel's] speech is full of language that provokes the unstable factors at the Asia Pacific region and stirs up trouble."

Vietnam, China, Malaysia have eyes on the prize

Explore the conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea

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Rich in resources and traversed by a quarter of global shipping, the South China Sea is the stage for several territorial disputes that threaten to escalate tensions in the region.

At the heart of these disputes are a series of barren islands in two groups - the Spratly Islands, off the coast of the Philippines, and the Paracel Islands, off the coasts of Vietnam and China.

Both chains are essentially uninhabitable, but are claimed by no fewer than seven countries, eager to gain control of the vast oil and gas fields below them, as well as some of the region's best fishing grounds.

Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei have made claims to part of the Spratlys based on the internationally recognised Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which extends 200 hundred nautical miles from a country's coastline.

Based on the EEZ, the Philippines has the strongest claim on the Spratlys and their resources, with its EEZ covering much of the area.

However the lure of resources, and prospect of exerting greater control over shipping in the region, means that greater powers are contesting the Philippines' claims.

China has made extensive sovereignty claims on both the Spratlys and the Paracels to the north, based largely on historic claims outlined in a map from the middle part of the 20th Century known as the 'Nine Dash Map'.

Taiwan also makes claims based on the same map, as it was created by the nationalist Kuomintang government, which fled to Taiwan after the communists seized power in China.

Vietnam also claims the Spratlys and the Paracels as sovereign territory, extending Vietnam's EEZ across much of the region and bringing it into direct conflict with China.

There have been deadly protests in Vietnam over China's decision to build an oil rig off the Paracels.

One Chinese worker in Vietnam was killed and a dozen injured in riots targeting Chinese and Taiwanese owned factories, prompting 3,000 Chinese nationals to flee the country.

EEZ can only be imposed based on boundaries of inhabitable land, and this has prompted all the countries making claims on the region to station personnel, and in some cases build military bases out of the water, to bolster their claim.

Building and protecting these structures has resulted in a series of stand-offs between countries in the region, each with the potential to escalate.

China has been leading the charge with these installations, and has deployed vessels to the region to protect their interests.

Chinese coast guard vessels have used a water cannon on Vietnamese vessels, as well as blockading an island where the Philippines has deployed military personnel.